Who Will Donovan Edwards Choose?
West Bloomfield (Mich.) High running back Donovan Edwards has been at the top of Michigan's 2021 board for quite a while and he's held the Wolverines in high regard as well. A little less than two months ago, Edwards released a top seven consisting of Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, Notre Dame, Penn State and Oklahoma.
With a decision set for Wednesday at 1:30, it's essentially become a two-horse race with a third horse trying desperately to stay in contention. We caught up with Brooks Austin of Dawgs Daily and Bryan Driskell of Irish Breakdown to get the latest from their side of things.
Georgia
Dell McGee has done an incredible job recruiting Edwards to even get Georgia in the mix at this point according to sources close to the situation. There's still a chance that Edwards leaves his home state and travels south to play between the hedges.
At this point, just a [couple days out], we believe it's a coin-flip between the Wolverines and Georgia, and frankly that alone confirms how good a recruiter McGee is for UGA.
Michigan
Someone very close to the West Bloomfield side of things informed me that Edwards told the Michigan staff while in town for the Wisconsin game that he intended to commit to the Wolverines. Obviously that didn't happen publicly, but it's possible he did verbally pledge to the staff while in Ann Arbor that day. When I asked someone very close to the Michigan side of things about that interaction, all I got back was the "shrug" emoji followed by laughing.
Couple those two nuggets of information with the fact that Edwards is extremely close to his support system in the area and I still think Michigan is the pick. Of course, the turmoil, subpar product on the field, strange running back rotation and uncertain future at U-M are all reasons for Edwards to look elsewhere, and Georgia isn't exactly a bad backup plan.
Notre Dame
Within the last two weeks I’ve had multiple sources inform me that Edwards was looking hard at Notre Dame, and there was some in his circle that felt like Notre Dame was the best fit. The combination of academics, great offensive line play and a dominant run game were attractive options. As we get closer and closer to signing day, those sources are less and less optimistic about Edwards ultimately ending up in South Bend.
The latest intel I’ve received is that Georgia is the team to beat, but Michigan is making maneuvers that could ultimately get things back in their favor. Right now it appears to be a Georgia-Michigan battle and the Irish have faded just as quickly as they climbed up.